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The less zealous English thought they conferred a sufficient honor on its unsullied fountains , when they bestowed the name of their reigning prince , the second of the house of Hanover .
The two united to rob the untutored possessors of its wooded scenery of their native right to perpetuate its original appellation of “ Horican . ”
* * As each nation of the Indians had its language or its dialect , they usually gave different names to the same places , though nearly all of their appellations were descriptive of the object .
Thus a literal translation of the name of this beautiful sheet of water , used by the tribe that dwelt on its banks , would be “ The Tail of the Lake . ”
Lake George , as it is vulgarly , and now , indeed , legally , called , forms a sort of tail to Lake Champlain , when viewed on the map .
Hence , the name .
Winding its way among countless islands , and imbedded in mountains , the “ holy lake ” extended a dozen leagues still further to the south .
With the high plain that there interposed itself to the further passage of the water , commenced a portage of as many miles , which conducted the adventurer to the banks of the Hudson , at a point where , with the usual obstructions of the rapids , or rifts , as they were then termed in the language of the country , the river became navigable to the tide .
While , in the pursuit of their daring plans of annoyance , the restless enterprise of the French even attempted the distant and difficult gorges of the Alleghany , it may easily be imagined that their proverbial acuteness would not overlook the natural advantages of the district we have just described .
It became , emphatically , the bloody arena , in which most of the battles for the mastery of the colonies were contested .
Forts were erected at the different points that commanded the facilities of the route , and were taken and retaken , razed and rebuilt , as victory alighted on the hostile banners .
While the husbandman shrank back from the dangerous passes , within the safer boundaries of the more ancient settlements , armies larger than those that had often disposed of the scepters of the mother countries , were seen to bury themselves in these forests , whence they rarely returned but in skeleton bands , that were haggard with care or dejected by defeat .
Though the arts of peace were unknown to this fatal region , its forests were alive with men ; its shades and glens rang with the sounds of martial music , and the echoes of its mountains threw back the laugh , or repeated the wanton cry , of many a gallant and reckless youth , as he hurried by them , in the noontide of his spirits , to slumber in a long night of forgetfulness .
It was in this scene of strife and bloodshed that the incidents we shall attempt to relate occurred , during the third year of the war which England and France last waged for the possession of a country that neither was destined to retain .
The imbecility of her military leaders abroad , and the fatal want of energy in her councils at home , had lowered the character of Great Britain from the proud elevation on which it had been placed by the talents and enterprise of her former warriors and statesmen .
No longer dreaded by her enemies , her servants were fast losing the confidence of self-respect .
In this mortifying abasement , the colonists , though innocent of her imbecility , and too humble to be the agents of her blunders , were but the natural participators .
They had recently seen a chosen army from that country , which , reverencing as a mother , they had blindly believed invincible -- an army led by a chief who had been selected from a crowd of trained warriors , for his rare military endowments , disgracefully routed by a handful of French and Indians , and only saved from annihilation by the coolness and spirit of a Virginian boy , whose riper fame has since diffused itself , with the steady influence of moral truth , to the uttermost confines of Christendom .
* A wide frontier had been laid naked by this unexpected disaster , and more substantial evils were preceded by a thousand fanciful and imaginary dangers .
The alarmed colonists believed that the yells of the savages mingled with every fitful gust of wind that issued from the interminable forests of the west .
The terrific character of their merciless enemies increased immeasurably the natural horrors of warfare .
Numberless recent massacres were still vivid in their recollections ; nor was there any ear in the provinces so deaf as not to have drunk in with avidity the narrative of some fearful tale of midnight murder , in which the natives of the forests were the principal and barbarous actors .
As the credulous and excited traveler related the hazardous chances of the wilderness , the blood of the timid curdled with terror , and mothers cast anxious glances even at those children which slumbered within the security of the largest towns .
In short , the magnifying influence of fear began to set at naught the calculations of reason , and to render those who should have remembered their manhood , the slaves of the basest passions .
Even the most confident and the stoutest hearts began to think the issue of the contest was becoming doubtful ; and that abject class was hourly increasing in numbers , who thought they foresaw all the possessions of the English crown in America subdued by their Christian foes , or laid waste by the inroads of their relentless allies .
* Washington , who , after uselessly admonishing the European general of the danger into which he was heedlessly running , saved the remnants of the British army , on this occasion , by his decision and courage .
The reputation earned by Washington in this battle was the principal cause of his being selected to command the American armies at a later day .
It is a circumstance worthy of observation , that while all America rang with his well-merited reputation , his name does not occur in any European account of the battle ; at least the author has searched for it without success .
In this manner does the mother country absorb even the fame , under that system of rule .
When , therefore , intelligence was received at the fort which covered the southern termination of the portage between the Hudson and the lakes , that Montcalm had been seen moving up the Champlain , with an army “ numerous as the leaves on the trees , ” its truth was admitted with more of the craven reluctance of fear than with the stern joy that a warrior should feel , in finding an enemy within reach of his blow .
The news had been brought , toward the decline of a day in midsummer , by an Indian runner , who also bore an urgent request from Munro , the commander of a work on the shore of the “ holy lake , ” for a speedy and powerful reinforcement .
It has already been mentioned that the distance between these two posts was less than five leagues .
The rude path , which originally formed their line of communication , had been widened for the passage of wagons ; so that the distance which had been traveled by the son of the forest in two hours , might easily be effected by a detachment of troops , with their necessary baggage , between the rising and setting of a summer sun .
The loyal servants of the British crown had given to one of these forest-fastnesses the name of William Henry , and to the other that of Fort Edward , calling each after a favorite prince of the reigning family .
The veteran Scotchman just named held the first , with a regiment of regulars and a few provincials ; a force really by far too small to make head against the formidable power that Montcalm was leading to the foot of his earthen mounds .
At the latter , however , lay General Webb , who commanded the armies of the king in the northern provinces , with a body of more than five thousand men .
By uniting the several detachments of his command , this officer might have arrayed nearly double that number of combatants against the enterprising Frenchman , who had ventured so far from his reinforcements , with an army but little superior in numbers .
But under the influence of their degraded fortunes , both officers and men appeared better disposed to await the approach of their formidable antagonists , within their works , than to resist the progress of their march , by emulating the successful example of the French at Fort du Quesne , and striking a blow on their advance .
After the first surprise of the intelligence had a little abated , a rumor was spread through the entrenched camp , which stretched along the margin of the Hudson , forming a chain of outworks to the body of the fort itself , that a chosen detachment of fifteen hundred men was to depart , with the dawn , for William Henry , the post at the northern extremity of the portage .
That which at first was only rumor , soon became certainty , as orders passed from the quarters of the commander-in-chief to the several corps he had selected for this service , to prepare for their speedy departure .
All doubts as to the intention of Webb now vanished , and an hour or two of hurried footsteps and anxious faces succeeded .
The novice in the military art flew from point to point , retarding his own preparations by the excess of his violent and somewhat distempered zeal ; while the more practiced veteran made his arrangements with a deliberation that scorned every appearance of haste ; though his sober lineaments and anxious eye sufficiently betrayed that he had no very strong professional relish for the , as yet , untried and dreaded warfare of the wilderness .
At length the sun set in a flood of glory , behind the distant western hills , and as darkness drew its veil around the secluded spot the sounds of preparation diminished ; the last light finally disappeared from the log cabin of some officer ; the trees cast their deeper shadows over the mounds and the rippling stream , and a silence soon pervaded the camp , as deep as that which reigned in the vast forest by which it was environed .
CHAPTER 1 The Rassendylls -- With a Word on the Elphbergs “ I wonder when in the world you ’re going to do anything , Rudolf ? ” said my brother ’s wife .
“ My dear Rose , ” I answered , laying down my egg-spoon , “ why in the world should I do anything ?
My position is a comfortable one .
I have an income nearly sufficient for my wants ( no one ’s income is ever quite sufficient , you know ) , I enjoy an enviable social position : I am brother to Lord Burlesdon , and brother-in-law to that charming lady , his countess .
Behold , it is enough ! ”
“ You are nine-and-twenty , ” she observed , “ and you ’ve done nothing but -- ” “ Knock about ?
It is true .
Our family does n’t need to do things . ”
This remark of mine rather annoyed Rose , for everybody knows ( and therefore there can be no harm in referring to the fact ) that , pretty and accomplished as she herself is , her family is hardly of the same standing as the Rassendylls .
Besides her attractions , she possessed a large fortune , and my brother Robert was wise enough not to mind about her ancestry .
Ancestry is , in fact , a matter concerning which the next observation of Rose ’s has some truth .
“ Good families are generally worse than any others , ” she said .
Upon this I stroked my hair : I knew quite well what she meant .
“ I ’m so glad Robert ’s is black ! ” she cried .
At this moment Robert ( who rises at seven and works before breakfast ) came in .
He glanced at his wife : her cheek was slightly flushed ; he patted it caressingly .
“ What ’s the matter , my dear ? ” he asked .
“ She objects to my doing nothing and having red hair , ” said I , in an injured tone .
“ Oh !
of course he ca n’t help his hair , ” admitted Rose .
“ It generally crops out once in a generation , ” said my brother .
“ So does the nose .
Rudolf has got them both . ”
“ I wish they did n’t crop out , ” said Rose , still flushed .
“ I rather like them myself , ” said I , and , rising , I bowed to the portrait of Countess Amelia .
My brother ’s wife uttered an exclamation of impatience .
“ I wish you ’d take that picture away , Robert , ” said she .
“ My dear ! ” he cried .
“ Good heavens ! ”
I added .
“ Then it might be forgotten , ” she continued .
“ Hardly -- with Rudolf about , ” said Robert , shaking his head .
“ Why should it be forgotten ? ”
I asked .
“ Rudolf ! ” exclaimed my brother ’s wife , blushing very prettily .
I laughed , and went on with my egg .
At least I had shelved the question of what ( if anything ) I ought to do .
And , by way of closing the discussion -- and also , I must admit , of exasperating my strict little sister-in-law a trifle more -- I observed : “ I rather like being an Elphberg myself . ”
When I read a story , I skip the explanations ; yet the moment I begin to write one , I find that I must have an explanation .
For it is manifest that I must explain why my sister-in-law was vexed with my nose and hair , and why I ventured to call myself an Elphberg .
For eminent as , I must protest , the Rassendylls have been for many generations , yet participation in their blood of course does not , at first sight , justify the boast of a connection with the grander stock of the Elphbergs or a claim to be one of that Royal House .
For what relationship is there between Ruritania and Burlesdon , between the Palace at Strelsau or the Castle of Zenda and Number 305 Park Lane , W. ?
Well then -- and I must premise that I am going , perforce , to rake up the very scandal which my dear Lady Burlesdon wishes forgotten -- in the year 1733 , George II .
sitting then on the throne , peace reigning for the moment , and the King and the Prince of Wales being not yet at loggerheads , there came on a visit to the English Court a certain prince , who was afterwards known to history as Rudolf the Third of Ruritania .
The prince was a tall , handsome young fellow , marked ( maybe marred , it is not for me to say ) by a somewhat unusually long , sharp and straight nose , and a mass of dark-red hair -- in fact , the nose and the hair which have stamped the Elphbergs time out of mind .
He stayed some months in England , where he was most courteously received ; yet , in the end , he left rather under a cloud .
For he fought a duel ( it was considered highly well bred of him to waive all question of his rank ) with a nobleman , well known in the society of the day , not only for his own merits , but as the husband of a very beautiful wife .
In that duel Prince Rudolf received a severe wound , and , recovering therefrom , was adroitly smuggled off by the Ruritanian ambassador , who had found him a pretty handful .
The nobleman was not wounded in the duel ; but the morning being raw and damp on the occasion of the meeting , he contracted a severe chill , and , failing to throw it off , he died some six months after the departure of Prince Rudolf , without having found leisure to adjust his relations with his wife -- who , after another two months , bore an heir to the title and estates of the family of Burlesdon .
This lady was the Countess Amelia , whose picture my sister-in-law wished to remove from the drawing-room in Park Lane ; and her husband was James , fifth Earl of Burlesdon and twenty-second Baron Rassendyll , both in the peerage of England , and a Knight of the Garter .
As for Rudolf , he went back to Ruritania , married a wife , and ascended the throne , whereon his progeny in the direct line have sat from then till this very hour -- with one short interval .
And , finally , if you walk through the picture galleries at Burlesdon , among the fifty portraits or so of the last century and a half , you will find five or six , including that of the sixth earl , distinguished by long , sharp , straight noses and a quantity of dark-red hair ; these five or six have also blue eyes , whereas among the Rassendylls dark eyes are the commoner .
That is the explanation , and I am glad to have finished it : the blemishes on honourable lineage are a delicate subject , and certainly this heredity we hear so much about is the finest scandalmonger in the world ; it laughs at discretion , and writes strange entries between the lines of the “ Peerages ” .
It will be observed that my sister-in-law , with a want of logic that must have been peculiar to herself ( since we are no longer allowed to lay it to the charge of her sex ) , treated my complexion almost as an offence for which I was responsible , hastening to assume from that external sign inward qualities of which I protest my entire innocence ; and this unjust inference she sought to buttress by pointing to the uselessness of the life I had led .
Well , be that as it may , I had picked up a good deal of pleasure and a good deal of knowledge .
I had been to a German school and a German university , and spoke German as readily and perfectly as English ; I was thoroughly at home in French ; I had a smattering of Italian and enough Spanish to swear by .
I was , I believe , a strong , though hardly fine swordsman and a good shot .

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